Yeah I guess ... maybe because I do not do latin as of yet ... I really dislike this dance. to slow for me. AND many times even seeing it danced well bothers me because so many dancers have not (for my own liking that is) emoted the feeling I would like to see in a rumba.

As far as dancing it, I do find it difficult to stay on timing. But again, I am not actively working on this particular dance at the moment.

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"I believe that we are never more truly and profoundly human than when we dance” - José Limón-------------------------------------"Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses." ~Anonymous

Oh I love Rumba, if you really get into the music, again is is in the leg action but it is such an intense romantic dance. Great Hip action is required, I too have not done too much but still love to do it socially.

What is the most important thing to focus on in this dance?

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The thing my instructor focuses on with me the most is keeping all of the motions and actions fairly crisp and definite. Not staccato, like tango, but not "flow-y" either. In particular, holding the leg lines on the slows -- there is some body motion that continues through the slow, but the feet should be stationary and the legs should not move any more than necessary to accommodate the body movement. Because I also dance bolero, my instructor often reminds me of it in terms of drawing a line between rumba and bolero -- if, for example, I sway through a cross-body lead rather than remaining vertical and using the hips, she'll say, "you boleroed that."

I'm still working on it myself. I find that the back side of the box is harder than the front side for some reason; I get my hip motion screwed up as I'm transitioning from the slow to the quicks. By the way: do you dance rumba SQQ or QQS?

When we first started, we were taught to dance it with International timing -- apparently that's the way FA used to teach it (our studio owners were once FA franchise owners). When they decided to adopt the DVIDA syllabus, they switched us all to American timing. Having done both, I honestly like American timing better for most of the music that rumba is danced to today.

Really odd...it is the same rhythm as bolero (plus one beat) and cha (less one beat). Also, you might find interesting, because of your earlier comment about it being too slow, that the original rumba was a courtship dance; danced quite a bit quicker than either of the ballroom styles, and with different footwork (steps).

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The most beautiful part of the dance is often found in between the steps... and in the movement within the stillness.